Best fighter on the Warriors, Giants or A’s? (contest post)

Last night, the Golden State Warriors played one of the more interesting games you’ll ever see that resulted in a double-digit loss. They came out with energy (offensively) and kept the score close until the middle of the third quarter. Stephen Curry had one of those games that shows why so many believe he’s the best shooter in the NBA, making 70% of his field goal attempts — including 3-point attempts.

The Warriors also turned the ball over a million times (Curry had 6). But forget that … they got into a fight! Nothing resembling that Friday brawl between the Sac State and UC Riverside baseball teams, but for an NBA disagreement in 2013 it got rather heated. No punches were thrown, but there were some shoves and people fell, and the skirmish made its way past the boundaries of the court and into the crowd far enough to spill a fan’s drink.

As a result, both David Lee and Roy Hibbert were suspended for one game, and Curry, Klay Thompson, and Lance Stephenson were fined $35,000 each. David West, who definitely put his hands on Andris Biedrins, was inexplicably left out of the NBA’s disciplinary process.

Throughout the game it seemed like there were more clear-outs, elbows and hand/wrist slaps than in any game I’ve seen all season, and what happened showed why refs sometimes feel a need to “take control of the game.” They didn’t last night, a skirmish seemed almost inevitable, and Hibbert and Lee got it going with exaggerated shoves. Hibbert was ejected after flinging Curry to the ground twice, and the strange sight of Curry (who looks childlike compared to a giant like Hibbert) mixing it up got me thinking…

Who’s the one guy you wouldn’t want to tangle with on the Warriors?

Suddenly, I had a good contest post idea. But just limiting this to Warriors seemed like a waste because most of the people would say Jarrett Jack or Draymond Green, one or two might say Festus Ezeli (muscles!) and a few jokers would choose Andris Biedrins. I’m onto you guys, especially some of you who comment regularly.

By the way, here’s what Hibbert had to say about Curry’s attempt to stick up for his buddy Lee:

“Seriously, I didn’t even feel (Curry). He just ran up on me. I don’t know. It’s between me and David Lee and he wants to get involved. I’m the type of person, I don’t want to start anything with someone that’s smaller than me. If I have somebody my size, we’ll talk it out like men. … I probably did toss the little guy to the side.”

So I figured I’d open this up a little, but let’s keep the 49ers, Raiders and Sharks out of this because fighting is their thing. Hockey teams have at least one player who could put “likes to punch people” in the first few lines of his resume. Football is so violent, with collisions so fierce and destructive, that whenever they resort to punching each other it looks ridiculous. STOP THAT, YOU TWO. YOU HAVE HELMETS ON AND MIGHT BREAK A KNUCKLE.

(Except the fight between Deion Sanders and Andre Rison, which was choreographed yet still awesome because it was a precursor to what we’d see years later on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, only without weaves. Aaaannnnd, stay tuned for when Larry Krueger brings up ways the Warriors can trade for Dwight Howard.)

However, baseball is just like basketball when it comes to fighting. Professional baseball, anyway. It looks ridiculous, often consists of more insults being thrown than hands, and every once in a while a fight happens that you never forget — like the brawl in 1988 between the Giants and the Cardinals that shaped the childhoods of myself and Mr. Brisbee (according to the math we’re the same age, how cute).

That’s right, we’re adding the Giants and Athletics to the mix. I bet you never expected I’d throw a curveball of that nature!

Here are the finalists for my Warriors/Giants/A’s fight card (and if Dominic McGuire still played for Golden State, this would be no contest):

Jarrett Jack: He may look an awful like like Neyo (not a sign of toughness), but he’s one of those guys who makes intense eye contact with everyone and oozes what the kids call “Swag.” There might be two or more g’s in “Swaggg.” I’m not sure. Internetz

Draymond Green: Just ask Patrick Beverly of the Rockets. Green is almost like a younger, saner version of McGuire.

Pablo Sandoval: He generally seems pretty cheerful, but if he could put some weight behind any punches he might throw.

Sergio Romo: He’s on the opposite side of the weight spectrum, but this sneer makes him look like he might possess the crazy-eyed unpredictabilty any good fighter needs.

I thought of two names and neither has been mentioned: Carl Landry and Buster Posey. Landry cause for a b-baller he's well proportioned for fighting and strong as hell and likes to play physical and I could just see him taking on three dudes at once. Posey cause he's a cold, calculating competitor who refuses to lose, and he's also dynamic athletically.

Balfour is the dude. Looks like MMA guy especially with Metallica blaring into to PA. He might come back from the knee injury in record time which means he's in great shape, is irrational or both. I put a few beans on both.

Out of your finalists I would go with Draymond Green. Good size & you gotta figure he can scrap being from Saginaw, Michigan. One guy I always wanted to see go at it one on one was Kevin Mitchell. I'll bet he could lay a guy out.

The best one right now is Jarrett Jack: With the few scuffles the warriors had this season, Jack seems to be in the middle of all of it. The guy does not back down from anybody and he is probably is the team's 'enforcer'. But I think Draymond Green will take the claim in a few years.
If the warriors did not trade Stack Jack for Jefferson last season I would definitely put him up there.

Warriors: Draymond Green for sure. He has no back down in him.
Giants: Vogey or Pence. If Vogey gets all game intense then he's not putting up with anyone's crap. Pence cuz you do not want to fight the crazy person with the bug eyed stare.

My first thought was Bumgarner, because if you can wrassle a calf you can wrassle a man. Then I thought maybe Torres, because I could see him being a good boxer. But then I remembered how unaffected Hibbert was by Curry in that "brawl", so I have to go with Festus. It's unimaginative, but I don't think anyone else could measure up against 6-11 255.

Jarret Jack, Angel Pagan...i dont follow the A's closely so ill say Dallas Braden. Hes from stockton, so that should work.
Between the three of them i'd say Pagan wins a close fight with Jack (Braden is too injury prone). He might have to distract him by scuffing up his shoes. That could backfire tho.

I'm putting my money on Madison Bumgarner. He's 6'5" and 235 pounds, which means he sizes up pound-for-pound with almost anyone else in the being. Over and above that, he's got a long wingspan and works a cattle ranch in the offseason. You ever see the look in Bumgarner's eye when he swings through a fastball down the middle? He's the kind of guy who when you push him over the line, he doesn't get loud, he gets quiet. And that's a dude you don't want to mess with.

Good point, he was the one Giants player I didn't mention who I considered for a while. I wanted to keep it to two players per team, and you could definitely argue that I should've replaced either Sandoval or Romo with the Bum who's Mad.

ABOUT BAY AREA SPORTS GUY

Giants, 49ers, Warriors, Raiders, Athletics, Sharks, Stanford or Cal – BASG has it covered. Bay Area Sports Guy is the sports guy for all sports guys (and girls), writing about Bay Area sports and the local sports media since 2008. BASG is the largest independent blog covering Bay Area sports, and took People’s Choice in CBS San Francisco’s "Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011."